2024 Transfer Portal

[glv98]

Spear is athletic enough, she can create her shot and get space off the dribble. She’s the only player we have that can do that from 3.

Agree to partially disagree. I love Jewel, so glad she stayed, but IMO her athleticism is one click below, which is why she could do the things you describe against lesser teams, but struggled to do it consistently against the better teams. But everyone doesn't have to have the same degree of athleticism. IMO the place Jewel is really going to have to get after it this summer is conditioning and defense. I'm sure she will and will have a great Sr season.

 

[Brawlvol]

Is Aaliyah Nye no longer in Lady Vol plans, I'm sure I missed an update.

 

[House|RockyTop]

Are you saying they underachieved or overachieved then?

Easy inference to comprehend. They were ranked #11 in WBB to start the season so a #6 seed is still consider underachieving at UT.

At the same time, every year it is the same theme. The same posters claim UT is going to struggle in the SEC and team A, team B, and team C will pass them. Well even despite starting off in the same hole in big games two years in a row UT earned a #6 in a down season. That wasn’t the expectation but better than every other team in the SEC besides LSU and SC.

So what Danny White said is true. They should compete every year to win. They underachieved by digging themselves in a hole and not playing up to the standard.

 

[House|RockyTop]

Jewel Spear wasn’t used properly in a majority of the games.
She scored 21 against South Carolina on the road.
If someone can’t see that night in and night out she would’ve been capable of that production consistently if used properly that’s on them.
She is athletic and can provide a unique skill-set at the guard position in the right system.

 

[Deebowbear]

No commit…. No uniform? Or it used to be that way ?

You right it’s not a uniform lol I was half a sleep then I guess

 

[Mafiaboss]

Yeah, that was posted a few days ago, it’s interesting because I may be dense but I still don’t understand the reference to wearing an L. Maybe someone here can help me.

I think Skim was saying I’m accountable for my prediction being wrong.

 

[VolFuture]

Is Aaliyah Nye no longer in Lady Vol plans, I'm sure I missed an update.

Withdrew from portal

 

[Mafiaboss]

Lazaria Spearman is listed at 6’4 and has a very long wingspan.
Her length will be an asset to defending any post player. I watched her highlights she is an aggressive mobile defender all around in the paint that’s something UT hasn’t had in awhile.

Same for Alyssa Latham. She can also defend. You don’t have to be 6’4 or taller to bang in the women’s game. Latham had some aggressive block shots against top competition. I watched her exposed Hannah Hidalgo and ND post players a couple times on defense this season.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they add one more 6’4 or 6’3 post player through the portal.

There are no more TK and Kamilla type post players in the WBB. Even the 6’5 and taller players like to face up and shoot jumpers. Point guard is not and should not be a priority. One more post for depth, and two more guard/wing.

Post who can elevate.

 

[Hooper22]

Jewel Spear wasn’t used properly in a majority of the games.
She scored 21 against South Carolina on the road.
If someone can’t see that night in and night out she would’ve been capable of that production consistently if used properly that’s on them.
She is athletic and can provide a unique skill-set at the guard position in the right system.

I agree with this. I do not believe Jewel was used properly for the majority of the season and you could tell it hindered her game to a degree.

 

[Mafiaboss]

I thought the portal closes on 1 May?

Yes, but you don’t have to sign by May 1. Just have to be in the portal by then.

 

[butchna]

EDIT: not sure why this posted again and I don’t know how to delete it. Sorry.

Curious what the Ruby Whitehorn fans like about her game and why they want her on Rocky Top next year. Her shooting stats from last year are meh.

.275 - 3 point
.692 - FT

Edit the original post and replace with a .

 

[Rooster1]

Yes, but you don’t have to sign by May 1. Just have to be in the portal by then.

That was the point of the initial discussion where the OP said "teams can breath easy after 11 May knowing the portal was closing".

 

[butchna]

Are you saying they underachieved or overachieved then?

Yes

 

[alexvol]

I didn’t say anything about SEC Championships. He did say competing for championships year 1.
I can see your point about competing for vs winning. That is a fair point. I will stick with my main assertion, however, that what he said was a bit unfair to our new coach.
I believe he would have been better off with something like “we will be putting a team on the court that can compete and win against the best teams” and leave it at that.

Your parsing of the English language is interesting ....and that is all I have to say about that .

 

[djtee]

Jewel Spear wasn’t used properly in a majority of the games.
She scored 21 against South Carolina on the road.
If someone can’t see that night in and night out she would’ve been capable of that production consistently if used properly that’s on them.
She is athletic and can provide a unique skill-set at the guard position in the right system.

Ok and at home vs SC she scored 0 in 35mins

 

[Peas29]

Her game does remind me of Kiki, she should have a breakout season.

She kind of reminds me of Jessica Breland. Similar build and playing style. But only watched a few of Syracuse’s games. Can’t wait to see her in action this upcoming season.

 

[House|RockyTop]

I agree with this. I do not believe Jewel was used properly for the majority of the season and you could tell it hindered her game to a degree.

This x1000!

 

[Amb3096]

Yeah, that was posted a few days ago, it’s interesting because I may be dense but I still don’t understand the reference to wearing an L. Maybe someone here can help me.

Skim Mulkey not ashamed to admit that they were wrong.

 

[Rooster1]

I agree with this. I do not believe Jewel was used properly for the majority of the season and you could tell it hindered her game to a degree.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I am curious to hear specifically how she was not used properly. That seems like such a generalized statement and I was wondering if you could provide some specific examples. TIA.

 

[House|RockyTop]

That’s something that has already been explained. It’s not hard to see how Jewel Spear was not properly being used in the offense night in and night out. The system was focused on post play as the #1 and #2 option on a team without a true back to the basket post player.

Every game the ball was being forced to the paint. And not to give Rickea Jackson more attempts but for other lower percentage attempts to score in the post.
No consistent movement in the offense or space for any guard to drive from the spots where Jewel was placed which 75% of the offense was in the corner. When she attempted to drive from that spot the post players were clogging the lane.

Nobody should still be asking for people to spell it out when it was obvious.

That is why her season was up and down.

She was trying to fit into her role and not force the issue by being a team player. That is how she earned the respect of her teammates by putting the team first.

You don’t score 30 pts against Ole Miss on the road, 21 pts against South Carolina on the road, and 24 pts in the SEC tourney against Alabama with a lack of athleticism. Watch those games. That’s your proof.

 

[Orange.]

We need to get an exact quote.

Hey, Lucy, I know what DW said and how it likely got misunderstood by a few people here.

In introducing Coach Caldwell, Danny White said the first thing he did in the search was to meet with the team. The team elected a leadership group to meet with him for an in-depth discussion of what our student athletes wanted and felt like was most important. DW said "As a women's basketball program, we want to get back to competing for Southeastern Conference and National championships." He said "they [the players] told him they have that ambition, and we [the players?] are not on a three-, four- or five-year plan. They talked about wanting to win next year. ["To win," not necessarily to win a national championship."] "We [both AD and players?] wanted to make sure we are positioning ourselves to be competitive right away."
....

"The prerequisite for this search, and something I was unbending on, was how was this person going to bring us back to the top. [That is, as a trajectory, no promise of the first year.] We weren't looking for a possible solution that got us back to being maybe more relevant. We wanted someone with an enormous upside and trajectory, and I will tell you why I think we found that."

There's a lot more. Everything Danny White said about decision to hire new Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell

The second factor that may have been misinterpreted is that DW put in CKC's contract a clause that offers the opportunity to become the highest-paid coach in the country by winning a national title. That is not restricted to her first year, although maybe some people wrongly assumed it was. How Kim Caldwell's national title contract clause came to be as Lady Vols basketball coach

Sorry, I hadn't seen @choochoovol's post when I wrote this. But I'll leave mine because adds some things.

 

[dazzleme]

What I like is 125 of 243 two point field goals for 51.5 percent. 46.4 percent overall field goal percentage. 5.2 rebound per game from the two guard position. Defense. 45 steals. She is a mid range get to the basket guard like Horston was. Horston was not a three point shooter either.

Got it. Seems like a good all-around player for sure. Just hope she can get the free-throw percentage up a little bit and then she’ll be clicking on all cylinders…and throwing a few three-pointers would be nice too.

 

[dazzleme]

Yes.

She visited UT in 2022 out of college, right?

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

I didn’t say anything about SEC Championships. He did say competing for championships year 1.
I can see your point about competing for vs winning. That is a fair point. I will stick with my main assertion, however, that what he said was a bit unfair to our new coach.
I believe he would have been better off with something like “we will be putting a team on the court that can compete and win against the best teams” and leave it at that.

His comment mentioned speaking to the current players and their desire to compete. Several of those girls don't have 2 or more years left to wait for things to turn around, so DW saying that their goal was to compete next year was more to support the current players than it was to put an unfair lofty goal on the new coach. Interpreting it any other way probably has less to do with what he said and more to do with a dislike of DW and a desire to manufacture things to complain about.

 

[dazzleme]

IMO this sums it up. Ruby is the new "type" our team is going to be made up of.

I'm trying hard to learn and embrace our new system instead of being scared of it. So correct me if I'm wrong. But my understanding is the new system will depend more on shot volume than accuracy for scoring, esp from 3. Although I don't think they'd turn down an athletic accurate 3 pt shooter, like Nye, those are few and far between and almost nonexistent in this portal. At times we'll have 4 of this "type" on the floor at once, very athletic 6 footers who play strong D and depend on slashing to the rim for offense. Also they're very good rebounders, which can increase shot volume.

The other thing I'm working to get use to is lack of dependence on size and traditional post play. Mobility over size.

The scariest thing I'm trying to get over is what happens when we don't control tempo and are forced into the half court. That's still a problem to me. Also, how do we defend huge, true posts like Kamilla was.

If we get Whitehorn, I hope we cap it off w a good point guard, possibly even one who can hit 3s.

I think you nailed it. I’ve been saying that we might need to look away from the stat sheet and shift our thinking on this and I agree I think it’s gonna be volume over percentage.

and I also like you worry a little bit about if we’re forced into a half court game how we’re gonna defend a true 6-5/6-7 post.